FR2588454A1 - Device for automatic positioning of soles for a machine for treating the latter - Google Patents

Abstract

Device for the automatic positioning of soles 2 for a machine 1 intended for their treatment, such as grinding or edge trimming. It comprises a pre-positioning station 9 in which a jogger 39 pushes the sole 26 between stops 28, 35 and a prefiguration 3' of the tool.

Description

Automatic positioning device for soles
for machine for processing them.

 The present invention relates to an automatic positioning device for soles for a machine intended for their treatment, such as grinding or milling of the heddle, digging a furrow, marking or coloring.

 For the grinding or milling of the edge, or smooth, of a sole, previously cut with a cookie cutter in a plate, or for other operations such as the digging of grooves, a machine such as shown schematically in top view in Figure 1 attached.

Such a machine comprises
- a flat and smooth table 1 on which the operator places the soleplate 2,
a machining tool 3 such as a milling cutter in the case of a leather sole or a grinding wheel in the case of an elastomer sole, for example,
- A roller 4 for driving the sole 2, positioned so as to move the sole so that its periphery, or smooth, moves along the tool 3; in the drawing, the position of the soleplate at the start of the machining path is indicated in 2 in solid lines, while its position at the end of the machining path is indicated in 2 ′, in dashed lines,
a stop 5, constituted for example by an idler roller, placed as shown so as to guide the sole during its movement along the tool 3.

 The operator takes a pack of pre-cut soles from a container and places it, for example, on the right on table 1 at the edge of which he is seated. He raises, pressing. with sossed on a pedal connected to a pneumatic cylinder, the roller- \ ntrainer 4, and places the first sole of the package in place against the stopper 5 and the tool 3. It then releases the pedal, so that the roller 4 descends and drives the sole in its desired course. It monitors the maneuver so as to raise the roller when the desired machining path has been completed.

He then evacuates the machined sole, for example to his left, and supplies the machine with another sole
This kind of conventional machine entails a tedious and arduous job for the operator, with a certain degree of imprecision in particular on the beginning and the end of the machining of each sole, and a yield dependent on the physical and moral condition of the operator.

 Furthermore, the time due to manual operations is significant, generally of the order of 20% of the total machining time, which is detrimental to the performance of the machine.

The present invention relates to a device allowing the automatic and precise positioning of each sole 2 successively on the machining table 1, the operator then no longer proceeding except to fill a sole supply store. It is characterized in that it comprises
- a flat sole supply store and one by one,
a device for transferring each sole from said store between at least one stop on one side of the sole, at least one stop on the other side of the sole, and a foreshadowing of the shape and relative position of the tool treatment,
a jogging device then acting on the tip of the sole by introducing the latter more closely in position between said stops and against said prefiguration of the tool,
a detection device associated with the end of the sole opposite to said tip and actuated when the jogging device has pushed the sole into the desired position, image of the position at the start of treatment by the tool,
- An automatic device, controlled, by said detection device, for transferring said prepositioned sole onto the treatment table, the transfer movement effected by this device being of predetermined amplitude.

 This gives precise and constant positioning of each sole on the machining table. Advantageously, the latter is equipped with an automatic control device for the driving roller which equips it, as well as with automatic evacuation of each machined soleplate, which completes the automation of the machine.

The invention will be better understood using the following description of an exemplary embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a machine for machining the heald runner according to the invention,
Figure 3 is a schematic side view of the machine of Figure 2,
FIG. 4 is a more detailed plan view of the device for prepositioning the soles fitted to the machine of FIG. 2,
FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views along the line VI-VI of FIG. 4, showing three successive positions of the device for supplying soles one by one, equipping the machine of the invention,
Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram of an improved mode of machining of soles using the machine of the invention.

Referring to all of Figures 2 to 6, the machine of the invention shown essentially comprises
a prepositioning table 6 equipped with a sole supply magazine 7 and a device 8 for transferring the soles one by one to a prepositioning station 9,
a device 10 for transferring each sole of the prepositioning station 9 to a machining table, the amplitude of the transfer movement being constant and predetermined,
- - a machining table 1 equipped with a conventional machining tool 3, a conventional drive roller 4, a conventional guide stop 5, as well as an automatic device 11 for removing soles made to a conveyor not shown.

 In operation, the operator places the soles to be machined, left and right solids combined, in the magazine 7. This magazine, in itself very conventional in a host of other applications, has two front stops 12,12 'and two rear stops 13,13 'adjusted in position as a function of all the soles to be machined, that is to say according to their type and their range of sizes.

 The position of the stops 12,12 ', 13,13' is made adjustable by the fact that they are mounted on blocks 14,14 'movable transversely on the surface of the table 6 by - the set of guide lights 15 in the table 6 associated with lugs 16 and blocking screws 17 of the blocks 14,14 'and by the fact that the rear stops 13,13' are also equipped with guide lights 18 which are associated with guide and blocking screws 19.

 In a very conventional manner for this kind of store, the soles are extracted one by one from the bottom of the stack, and for this purpose, the front stops 12,12 'stop at a height h above the table 6 sufficient to let the passage to a sole and only one. The front stops 12, 12 ′ therefore constitute, in this technique, the equivalent of "margin knives" or "margin stops" fitted to the magazine of "feeders" used in machines for processing corrugated board plates. Reference will also be made to patent FR-A-2,560,081 which describes, with reference to its FIGS. 1 and 2, a food store of this type, again used in a completely different technique.

 As seen in more detail in Figures 4, 5 and 6, the table 6 is equipped with a double-acting cylinder 20 placed under its upper face and in the longitudinal axis of the machine, the rod of which is fixed a carriage 21.

 The carriage 21 moves under the table 6, but the surface thereof is pierced by two longitudinal guide slots 22 in which slide two protruding bars 23, 24 forming part of the carriage 21 and overhanging the table 6 by an equal height to the thickness of a sole. The bars 23, 24 constitute, the equivalent of the pushers equipping the extraction device of the aforementioned patent FR-A-2 560 081, but they are also equipped with a particular device which will be described below.

 As can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the front part 25 of the bar 24 forms a pusher for the front half of the sole 26 to be extracted from the stack 27, and is advantageously rounded accordingly. On the other hand, the front part of the bar 23 serves as a support for a roller 28 which itself forms a pusher for the rear half of the sole 26 to be extracted.

 The roller 28 is carried by one end of a lever arm 29 whose articulation axis 30 is integral with the carriage 21 but is placed in front of the latter as shown in FIG. 5 and whose other end 33 is slidably mounted along a longitudinal guide rod 31 fixed under the surface of the table 6.

 In the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5, corresponding to the retracted position of the carriage 21, the roller 8 is pressed against the front part of the bar 23 by a return spring 32.

 When one makes, from the retracted position of the carriage 21 drawn in solid lines in FIG. 5, re-enter the rod of the jack 20, the roller 28 and the stop 25 come to pull to the right the sole 26 and extract it thus from below the stack 27, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5, this dotted position corresponding to the moment when the end 33 of the lever 29 comes to bear on a fixed stop 34 of the rod 31.

 By continuing then, as shown in FIG. 6, to retract the rod of the jack 20, the lever 29 rocks around its hinge axis 30, so that the roller 28 travels a path greater than that traveled by the carriage 21, and detaches from it as shown, the bearing force of the sole 26 against one of the stops 35 of the prepositioning station then being multiplied as a function of the value of the lever arm of the element 29, which avoids mark or deform the sole 26.

 Very conventionally, the longitudinal dimensions of the carriage 21 are sufficient so that, in the most advanced position thereof shown in FIG. 6, the rest of the stack 27 still rests on its rear part, the following sole not descending a notch only when the carriage 21 is completely retracted again, in the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5.

 Referring more particularly to FIG. 4, the carriage 21 therefore pushes, by the roller 28 and the flange 25, the sole 26, whether it is left or right, against three pre-positioning stops 35, adjusted in longitudinal position thanks to guide lights 36 formed in a support block 37 and by means of locking screws 38.

 As can also be seen in FIG. 2, the stops 35 are placed in such a way that they play their role both for a right sole and for a left sole.

 Furthermore, a roller 3 ′ with the same external contour as that of the machining tool 3 fitted to the table 1 (FIG. 2) is placed, in correspondence with the stops 35 of the prepositioning station 9 so as to constitute a foreshadowing of said machining tool, both in shape and in relative position. The rear part of the sole 26 therefore also comes into abutment on this roller 3 ′, without however that this abutment position necessarily necessarily corresponds entirely to the desired position for the sole 26.

 A jogging bar 39, placed at the end of the rod of a double-acting cylinder 40 fixed to the table 6, and guided in the block 14 by slides 41, then comes to strike, by jerks, the point 260 of the sole 26 , making it move back so as to fit it perfectly between the stops 35 and the prefiguration 3 'on the one hand and the roller 28, mounted resiliently by means of the spring 32 (Figure 5), on the other.

 When the sole 26 arrives, following tapping by the jogging bar 39, in its desired and predetermined position on the prepositioning station 9, its rear point 261 pushes on a pallet 42, articulated with elasticity (spring 43) on the block 14 ', which activates an electromagnetic contactor 44.

 The contactor 44 then triggers the descent of the robot arm 10 (Figures 2 and 3). This is conventionally equipped with gripping suction cups, with vacuum, the automatic vacuuming of which allows the sole 26 to be gripped. The robot arm 10 then rises, then turns by a fixed and predetermined angle o to finally come and deposit automatically the sole on the machining table 1 in its position 2 (FIG. 2) which consequently corresponds very precisely to that desired for the start of the machining by the tool 3.

 The robot arm 10, having released the sole in 2, then rises and returns to its starting position. The drive roller 4 (FIG. 3) and the tool 3 are then automatically driven in rotation, the latter automatically stopping when the sole has reached its position 2 ′ at the end of machining. Another robot arm 11 then evacuates the machined sole to a conveyor, not shown.

 According to a particular characteristic of the invention, shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7, the roller does not drive the sole 2 with a constant speed. In order to compensate for excessively sudden accelerations in the area 50 of the sole tip, with a large radius of curvature, the speed of rotation of the roller 4 is greatly reduced in this area 50, for example to a quarter of the value it has in the other two work areas, 51 and 52, where the radius of curvature is small.

 The automatic control means used for the machine of the invention are conventional means with coding wheels and pre-display counters which will not be described here so as not to unnecessarily burden the description.

Claims (6)

REVENDICATIC) NS  1- Automatic positioning device for soles (2) for machine (1) intended for their treatment, characterized in that it comprises:  - a supply store (7) for flat soles and one by one,  a device for transferring each sole (26) from said store between at least one stop (35) on one side of the sole, at least one stop (28) on the other side of the sole, and a prefiguration ( 3 ′) of the shape and relative position of the treatment tool (3),  - a jogging device (39) then acting on the tip (260) of the sole by introducing the latter more closely in position between said stops and against said prefiguration of the tool,  - a detection device (44) associated with the end (261) of the sole opposite to said tip (260) and actuated when the jogging device (39) has pushed the sole into the desired position, image of the position in start of treatment with the tool (3),  - an automatic device (10), controlled by said detection device (44), for transferring said prepositioned sole (26) onto the treatment table (I), the transfer movement (0 <.) carried out by this device being of predetermined amplitude.  2- positioning device according to claim î; characterized in that at least one (28) of said stops is mounted on an elastic support (29, 32).  3- Positioning device according to claim 2, characterized in that said device for transferring the sole between said store (7) on the one hand and said stops (35, 28) and prefiguration (3 ') on the other hand, comprises at least one pusher (28) forming a stop at the end of the path, said pusher being mounted on an elastic return arm (29) forming a reduction lever at the end of the path of the pusher.  4- positioning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least one of said stops (28, 35) is constituted by a roller, or the like.  5- Sole treatment device (2), of the type comprising a positioning device according to any one of claims  1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises a processing machine (1) for the positioned soles (2) whose movements are triggered automatically after the operation of depositing each of said soles in position.  6- Device according to claim 5, characterized in that it is equipped with means for performing a slow processing of each sole in its areas (50) with large radius of curvature (Figure 7).